Melodies
by Akuraito
Summary: [Young Arclights; spoilers for episode 56; platonic TeaService] Sleeping was always the time when one was most vulnerable. If he slept, then couldn't Thomas suddenly disappear and leave him, too? He couldn't just let his family down like that again! And being alone, losing the only person he had left... but he was so drowsy, the pattering of rain outside so calming...


_You are my sunshine, my only sunshine; you make me happy when skies are grey. You'll never know, dear, just how much I love you._

Fittingly enough, it was raining again. Rapidly, the drops of water fell; they almost seemed to be tinted with the lightest of grey, adding further to the sorrowful vibes that the weather gave off.

Head resting on his pillow, Mihael watched the seemingly endless supply of water come crashing down to the earth; he wasn't entirely sure why he was looking through the window, considering how even if there wasn't a storm, he still wouldn't be able to see anything in the gloomy, darkened night.

He couldn't help but feel lonely. Everyone else in the orphanage—actually, anybody normal—was asleep; he was only awake because he was…bluntly, he was afraid to fall asleep again. With his eyes closed…if he wasn't alert…who knew what could happen? His father had disappeared into the night as he slept, after all. Who was to say that Thomas wouldn't, either? Even with how low the chances were of Thomas disappearing, Mihael still was immensely worried.

There was a long pause in his thoughts as he moved his gaze up towards the ceiling, focusing on the minute details of it; the off-colored white of it, how the shadows danced about it and created intricate paintings across it, more black and grey than anything else.

His eyes drooped, the lack of interesting things to focus on—as odd as the shadow pictures were, they weren't exactly enthralling—resting his mind and making it want to shut off for the night, which Mihael had been so vigorously fighting for the entire night so far. He felt uncomfortable sleeping, unable to see if Thomas was safe or be aware until day; so many things could happen in such a few hours.

But he needed sleep. It was unhealthy to stay up all night, he knew, and Thomas would be upset that Mihael wasn't taking care of himself, or that he wasn't protecting his younger brother as much as he should; the conflicting priorities troubled Mihael, and the only solution he could think of wasn't exactly perfect, but it was the best he could do.

Reluctantly, he carefully climbed out of his bed and tiptoed over to the side of Thomas', gently shaking him; almost immediately after, he regretted it, embarrassed that he had woken his brother over such a small issue, one that really wasn't worth disrupting someone's sleep over. But he had done it, so he absolutely needed to go through with it.

Thomas blinked slowly as he opened his eyes, and despite how blurry his vision was with sleep, he could tell immediately that it was Mihael. Groggily, he whispered, "Mihael? What d'you need?"

He hesitated a moment before speaking; "Nii-sama, could I…" It was an awkward question, and Mihael felt extremely childish and foolish as he asked—it _was _true that his fear was rather ridiculous, wasn't it? Why had he even bothered to ask?—but he still forced his question to be finished; "Could I sleep beside you tonight?" He wrung his hands together anxiously, afraid that Thomas would simply think that Mihael was being too much of a worrywart and reject his request.

Surprisingly enough to him, however, Mihael's answer came in the form of a muffled yawn and firm nod, soon followed by Thomas rolling to the side of the bed to allow room for his younger brother to crawl under the covers; a grateful and flustered "Thank you, nii-sama!" returned the gesture, the bed sagging slightly as Mihael climbed into the bed beside Thomas.

Eyes falling closed quickly, comforted by his brother's close proximity, Mihael soon surrendered to the soothing void of sleep, his breaths evening out as he began to dream; a field expanded out under his eyelids, light saturating everything, sunflowers as far as one could see, all facing the shining sun in the sky.

_Please don't take my sunshine away._


End file.
